THEME 1. HISTORY
Strand 1 . Histories of design criticism
In the course of the 20th century in many countries design criticism gradually developed into an independent discipline. Authors with different professional background – art historians, architects, artists, designers… – qualified themselves as specialists in the discussion or evaluation of material products. Coinciding with the worldwide professionalization of industrial design, new magazines were established which devoted special attention to the topic. Although the work of several authors such as Reyner Banham has been thoroughly studied and a few anthologies and critical volumes on design criticism have been published, our knowledge of how the discipline developed worldwide is still limited. This session aims at addressing this lack of knowledge and welcomes papers that focus on key figures, representative media or significant moments in the history of design criticism within a particular country or region. What traditions, transitions or trajectories can we detect within the development of design criticism? How can they inform contemporary research and practice? Through mapping and discussing different histories of design criticism, this session implicitly intends to feed the ongoing debate on the crisis in design criticism, and as such also welcomes papers that address the dynamic possibilities of confronting historical references and interpretations of contemporary practices.
Chairs
Fredie Floré
VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands and Ghent University, Belgium
Heitor Alvelos
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Portugal
Strand 2 . Design Education in Art, Craft, Technology, and other Traditions
Design education was mainly based on art, craft or technology education. From these different traditions, each of which had its own historical and social context, modern design education emerged in the early twentieth century. There are, however, also some other important traditions in education such as home economics which were originally related to design or gradually associated with it. Although they are often considered exceptional or not part of the mainstream, their history is as long as or even longer than that of art, craft, or technology in some countries. We welcome papers which are consciously written on one or some of these different traditions in design education. These papers may be fruitful in helping our understanding of the historical and present position of design education in each country and the world.
Chairs
Haruhiko Fujita
Osaka University, Japan
Henrique Cayatte
Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Strand 3 . Aesthetics beyond style
Contemporary design discourse avoids hedonism and aesthetical pleasure as a consequence of relating those experiences to the territory of consumerism and the exploitation of senses. However, hedonism as a refinement of pleasure has been a driving force of humanizing mankind. By portraying the specific field of research based on the experience of things and their sensory properties, we are interested in discussing how design participates in self-construction and civilisation processes, through the aesthetic dimension of things.
We invite researchers to present theoretical frameworks and/or empirical studies within the context of aesthetics of design. We welcome contributions addressing the track’s topic related to the world of things e.g. sceneries, ambiences, atmospheres, public and private spaces, as well as visual signs, graphic diagrams, labels, screens, books, tools, machines and electric appliances, furniture, lights and clothes, etc.
The purpose of this track is to draw out a reflection upon the extent to which aesthetical contribute to the quality of one design and to the quality of everyday life, enhancing the arguments for happiness.
Chairs
Anna Calvera
University of Barcelona, Spain
Fátima Pombo
University of Leuven, Belgium
THEME 2. MEMORY
Strand 1 . Design Histories: tradition, transgression and transformations
Design has asserted and re-invented itself in many different ways across the ages, depending on a variety of situations and geographical locations. Artifacts themselves are more than reflections of such circumstances as they are also carriers of memory and involve a large cast of players – designers, entrepreneurs, producers, retailers, consumers – who act out their roles in private and public spheres, often mediated by a variety of social and economic policies. Furthermore, design may reveal a set of traditional influences, embrace the need for transgression in order to stand out, or seek to bring about transformation in daily life. Authorship has been an important factor in many of these contexts. We welcome papers that bring to light stories and memories related to all such topics.
Chairs
Jonathan Woodham
University of Brighton, UK
Helena Barbosa
Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Strand 2 . Design Culture
In our era of continuous scientific and technological progress which implies a constant acceleration of time and in which the essence of being becomes reified, memory serves as a unique and exceptional medium for imagination and innovation. Our presence is seamlessly invaded by communication and messages that are delivered in an immaterial way. This dematerialization calls for research to illuminate the condition that an artifact used in everyday life is determined not only by the physical properties of matter or its user context. It also belongs to the sphere of an immaterial culture characterized by semantic, symbolic and social value. This session aims to point towards a fuller and more advanced approach to the interrelationships between designed artefacts and the range and swiftness of the memory. This session also seeks to explore how design has played a key role in shaping our cultural memory and how through the culture of design memory has become a mental process of approaching the invisible and visible, the immaterial and material culture. We also propose to research how design policies integrate the role of memory both from a local and a global perspective. Here the proactive role and use of history, our collective and extended memory, plays a key role.
Chairs
Pekka Korvenmaa
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland
Helena Souto
Institute of Art, Design and Enterprise – University (IADE-U), Portugal
Strand 3 . Design Museums
The number of design museums is increasing significantly everywhere while museums in general are going through radical changes in this century. The way we conceive, consider and consume museums is being altered and reconstructed. We are experiencing an intense transformation with the establishment of new economic paradigms and renewed social demands. Countless design projects now emphasize and incorporate elements of ethical consciousness and social responsibility. The plethora of technologies and materials has expanded the possibilities of conservation, while instigating profound changes in design philosophy and methodology. As part of this process, the position of design archives is also under scrutiny. History is re-written through collections acquired and exhibitions organized in museums, which keep reconstituting the public perception of art, science, technology and design. Within this milieu, studying, preserving and reinterpreting design heritage become very important. The session will discuss these issues to situate design museums in a wider perspective. Relevant topics are as follows: Objects, missions and roles of design museums; Changes, challenges and strategies for collecting, curating, exhibiting and archiving. New approaches for preservation; Museums as centers of culture, experience, experimentation and multidisciplinary creations; Studying memories of the present; Working on local / national / global levels; New strategies for the educational function of design museums
Chairs
Tevfik Balcioglu
Yasar University, Turkey
Bárbara Coutinho
IST and Director of the MUDE – Design and Fashion Museum
THEME 3. IDENTITY
Strand 1 . Design Process and Practice
This strand seeks to explore the processes that lead to the construction of cultural identities in the field of design, through trajectories that incorporate traditional approaches, transitions between tradition and modernity, or that exemplify the tensions between the two. We welcome the study and analysis of the impact on systems of production, on the material culture of design and on the structure and practice of design, of processes that favour the confrontation or cohabitation of tradition and modernity: geopolitical influences such as colonial and postcolonial contexts, processes of hybridisation and acculturation, the impact of globalisation and delocalisation, specific instances of transition between political systems or the impact of grassroots activism and social movements. From the point of view of examples of practice, and drawing from both traditional craft and design processes, we also look for the analysis of processes and projects employing traditional cultural values and which retrieve and/or emphasize craft techniques in the type of contexts mentioned above, and propose new solutions through innovative practices, either for self-production or mass production. We hope researchers and designers will analyse these processes by exploring the most diverse areas of design, allowing the end result to offer an overview of how traditional values can serve as a baseline to rethink a project, and the relationship between understandings of tradition and modernity can give rise to new products, while maintaining or redefining a local identity as the basis for new opportunities.
Chairs
Viviana Narotzky
President of ADI-FAD, the Industrial Design Association of Barcelona, Spain
Raul Cunca
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Strand 2 . Localities / Globalities
Addressing identity issues in design, which is a complex task, is a challenge for researchers in the area. Identity is never complete, never accomplished, and is an on going process that needs constant reflection, confronting local versus global, past and present and the present and a possible future, inside a transitional world. Through this specific research field we are interested in discussing how tradition, transition and trajectories can affect identity and therefore design in a confrontation of scales and links between localities and globalities. When we create the right kind of identity, we are able to communicate with others and contribute to a better way of life. Contributions addressing different manifestations in design identity, innovation, technology and creativity as part of development processes and the evolution of traditional culture, related with design are welcomed. This strand wants to incentive reflection, underlining the importance of design identity within design strategies, enhancing the different micro and macro project scales. So, we invite researchers to present theoretical and/or empirical works addressing its influences within the context of localities and globalities in design.
Chairs
Oscar Salinas
National University of Mexico, Mexico
Strand 3 . Authorship and Anonymous Design
This strand will explore a tension between the identity of things and the identity of authors, or designers. Making is a key mode of expressing identity. Design is popularly understood as the product of an individual, and design teaching emphasises individual creativity and authorship. Yet, the majority of design is a group effort, and the output of practitioners working anonymously, rather than noted named designers, and many objects are best described as type forms. New technologies and techniques such as the use of algorithms mean that those working in design studies and design history alike need rethink their methods for explicating anonymous design. We welcome papers by historian-detectives revealing the truthful authorship of well-known or less well known objects. We are, however, especially interested in the collective construction of an idea of design by social groups that act as authors, such as nations, regions or "schools", determining an underlying authorship through taste or Alois Riegl's 'worldview'. This panel invites delegates to consider: How can we best understand the work of anonymous designers? Is the drive to identification essential? Does an emphasis on authorship obscure the achievements of anonymous designers? What can theories and methods centred upon authorship lend to the analysis of anonymous design?
Chairs
Eduardo Corte Real
Institute of Art, Design and Enterprise – University (IADE-U), Portugal
Joana Quental
Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal
THEME 4. TECHNOLOGY
Strand 1 . History of Technology: Traditions, Transitions and Trajectories
Starting from the perspective that design can be seen as a social-cultural appropriation of technology, we wish to understand more fully the relationships between innovations in technology and innovations in design. Taking the social construction perspective a stage further, we wish to explore the ways in which technology and design are often appropriated, transformed, used and misused by consumers. Employing such an approach, is it possible to gain insights into or even construct a history of mental models of design from the point of view of the designer or equally validly, the user? Papers in this strand might consider, but not be limited to discuss:
Traditions: Traditions of technology, its usage and abusage in socio-cultural or geographical contexts. Is there value in reconsidering traditional techniques in the context of a new technological and cultural landscape where cultural and geographical boundaries are increasingly less of an obstacle?
Transitions: In the face of increasingly rapid developments in technology, what can be learned from exploring the social, cultural or economic impacts involved in the transitions from one technology to another?
Trajectories: With the development of increasingly accessible tools for the realisation and dissemination of design concepts, what are the potential impacts of new and emerging technologies on the production, distribution and consumption of design?
Chairs
Paul Atkinson
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Vasco Branco
Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Strand 2 . Materials, Techniques and Processes
Technology has always been at the origin of the progressive achievement of artificiality by design: a “life invented” (Ortega y Gasset) which intention is no longer to respond to human primary needs, but the conquest of wellbeing and happiness. It follows that desire anticipates the project: the design stands today to the place where art and technique go hand in hand in order to undertake a new culture, focused on pleasure. This path has two distinct possible developments: firstly, an increasing use of technologically sophisticated resources, able to with less effort, give the most efficient response; on the other, in response to this technological overdose, the return to traditional techniques: creation, in this way, combines making and feeling. In this context, we welcome theoretical or empirical contributions that question and provide a broader understanding of the role of technology in contemporary society. We consider as developing topics: the relationship design / technology, technology / software, technology / authorship, design / new materials, new processes / design, design / materials sensory properties, – in all areas of the artificial world we live in, a world in which design aspires to be total, responding to a greater purpose which is, after all, creating a life program.
Chairs
Héctor Flores Magón
Universitarius Centre of Art, Architecture and Design, University of Guadalajara, Mexico
Joana Quental
Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Strand 3 . Design and Technology
As a process of mediation between the world and us, the design of industrial artefacts, environments, interfaces and forms of communication presupposes intentional use of technological resources. From the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century to the current post-industrial context, the technological dimension is crucial in design. In the process of use and exploitation of the technology several other design dimensions are involved: aesthetic, ethical, economic, environmental or political. We invite researchers to present theoretical frameworks and / or empirical studies within the context of design and technology. We welcome contributions addressing the track’s topic related to design culture and technology e.g. old media/new media; sustainability; technology and social innovation; biotechnology; vernaculars techniques; new crafts; new materials and new technological applications.
Chairs
Lucila Fernandéz
Superior Institute of Design, Cuba
José Bártolo
Superior School of Arts and Design, Portugal
THEME 5. SOCIETY
Strand 1 . Design Policies
THEME 5. SOCIETY
Strand 1 . Design Policies
Strand 1 . Design Policies
This strand looks at the tensions between the private and the public as encapsulated in design policies. State control on the public domain might be easy to perceive. Architecture design and urban planning are subdued to strict regulations affecting their design. However, what about the private domain? How does the state shape design? And what are its benefits? States have promoted design by means of promotional bodies and exhibitions. Their goals have been diverse ranging from the indoctrination of the population, the protection of domestic markets, the increase of exports or putting own’s country on the creative map. Both domestic and external aspects are at stake when studying design policies. Accordingly, analysing design policies calls for a sophisticated framework to properly look at the relationship between power and materiality. This strands welcomes papers that reflect on the role of the state in promoting design and on the cultural effects of design policies. This strand particularly welcomes papers that delve into these aspects from a historical or theoretical perspective.
Chairs
Javier Gimeno-Martinez
VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
Beatriz Vidal
Designer | Design Manager and coordinator of national and international projects and actions, Lisbon, Portugal
Strand 2 . Design Activism
This strand welcomes proposals that will address design history and design studies from the perspective of social issues and design activism. We expect to promote critical discussions, based on original research, about design activism and the importance of tradition in activism language, its relations with politics, music, gender, ethnicity, and environmental issues. That comprises debates on the status of what we may call "design in the streets": relations to vernacular design, street art, dystopia and resistance, as exemplified in recent popular manifestations in major cities around the world. The list of possible topics also includes weird, queer, and post-colonial approaches to design history and design studies; and new models of design activism, such as crafts as activism, open design as activism, participatory design, resilience.
Chairs
Priscila Farias
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Raquel Pelta
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Barcelona
Strand 3 . Design Ethics
Today, as design operates in a global framework and in many situations outside the market, the question of ethics is yet more complicated. Clearly designed objects are parts of production and distribution systems so that a great design for the Apple iPhone is embedded in a process of unfair labor practices in China. Thus, ethics no longer relates only to the design of single objects but also to the nature of the larger systems of production and consumption in which design is embedded. On the other hand, since it is impossible to think Design without its implicit know-how, we find ourselves in a field where ethical action may easily be conceived as a project against the globalization of indifference, which requires that the design in question shows its authentic solicitude. For this strand, we seek papers that consider the question of ethics broadly in terms of product quality (not producing products that are harmful to individuals or to the environment) as well as product systems. We are also interested in papers that discuss positive contributions to the social world within frameworks such as social design, universal design, design for all, ecodesign, and others that are related.
Chairs
Victor Margolin
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Rosa Alice Branco
Superior School of Arts and Design, Portugal
THEME 6. OPEN STRAND
This strand welcomes papers that do not fit the other strands, however they should be related to the general issue of the conference.
Chairs
Nuno Dias
Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal